Give Us a T for Texas

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Interstate 10 across Texas is 879 miles long. So we expect to be in Texas for about a month as we head to Quartzsite Arizona. The drive from Livingston LA to Beaumont TX should have been an easy one. We stopped at a couple rest stops. The one in Louisiana at the Atchafalaya Basin was quite nice. The visitor center had all sorts of displays and even had a small theater with a 4 minute movie talking about the area and its diverse wildlife. This looks like a region of the state that may be interesting to check out at some later date.

At the visitor center in Texas, they were warning everybody that a section of I-10 westbound near Beaumont was closed and was backing up for many miles. They suggested a detour so we opted to take it even though it added many miles to our route and our traffic enabled GPSr wasn't indicating any issues.  Construction along the detour brought the road down to one lane which added another 10 or more minutes to the drive. 

After getting thru the construction, we turned down another road hoping it was large enough to handle our rig. It was, until we noticed flashing lights approaching us. It turned out to be two huge buildings or pieces of machinery with an enormous police escort along with several utility trucks presumably to deal with low hanging wires if need be. I was forced to drive with half the motor home riding on the grass. Thank goodness the ground was plenty firm there.

Our simple drive was not so simple and we were going to be getting into camp after sunset. This had been one of our rules - always get in during the light of day preferably mid afternoon. Fortunately the sky was clear and we had a pull thru site, so coming in at dusk was not too bad. 
Gulf Coast RV Park is just west of Beaumont proper and is a pretty nice place. It's close to I-10 and a railroad track. Why is it so many campgrounds have train tracks right next door? It wasn't too loud and trains were not too frequent. They even had a free breakfast each day. We only checked it out once, but they had waffle makers, biscuits and gravy, bagels, donuts, fruit and cereal - much like you see at some motels. The wifi was reasonable but not great. We were breaking with our drive about 200 miles and spend a week by only staying here 5 nights. We think it worked out well since there wasn't a ton of stuff to do in the area and this would allow us to drive through Houston on a Saturday and onto our next stop in San Antonio on a Sunday.

One day we drove just north of town to Village Creek State Park. There were quite a few geocaches here and we were looking forward to some nice trail walks. We decided since we would be in Texas for at least the next 30 days and planned on camping in a state park when we get out further west, we decided to get the $70 annual pass. It seems like each state has its own rules. Other states (Michigan and Wisconsin) has a sticker you buy for your vehicle. Texas works it based on the person. So by getting a pass for one of us, it will cover the other person in the vehicle, plus in state parks we drive the motorhome into, as long as we are towing the Jeep, there isn't an extra charge.

It turned out that there had been some flooding here as well back in mid summer. So several miles of trails were closed to hikers. I would like to have thought that we could leave it up to our own discretion as to which trails we felt were passable, but the signs they had up at the closed sections were pretty clear so we ended up not hiking as much as we wanted. Plus it also explains why many of the caches in the park hadn't been found in months.

The Barricades, Caution Tape and Signs Kept Us Out

The Namesake of Village Creek State Park

On the day before Thanksgiving, it rained very hard for a couple hours in the morning. I was amazed that it took several days for the standing water to soak in to the lawn next to our rig. I got wet feet several times getting into the car when I stepped off the concrete pad. Maybe that's why this place floods so easily. 

This would be our spot for Thanksgiving so we headed to the grocery store to get the fixings. Actually this wasn't our first Thanksgiving in an RV. About 5 years ago, when we still had our 24 foot travel trailer, we had a very warm fall and had not winterized it yet. With 60 degree weather predicted for the weekend, we headed out over that holiday. Since that was a more impromptu trip, we didn't do a full feast. 

However now that this is our home, we wanted to do it right. We haven't gotten a big bird in some time since its just the two of us, so the one we got fit perfectly in the crock pot. Stuffing baked in the convection oven and candied yams on the induction top along with my favorite 24 hour salad, we had a great feast.

We made it to another disc golf course Klein Park, northwest of town. Glad we had waited an extra day after the rain to try it out. Even so, it was muddy in a few spots. The course was well laid out and marked. We didn't play very well, but I don't think we should blame the course or mud.

For one day trip, we headed to Sea Rim State Park. It is right on the Gulf coast a little south of Port Arthur. On our way there we stopped at the Beaumont Botanical Gardens which was only a few miles from our campgrounds. The building happened to be closed that day, but the grounds were very nice. The hundreds of roses out in bloom in late November seemed out of place to us northerners. 

Entrance

Nice Plantings

Some Sort of Palm?

Yellow Rose of Texas

Bird of Paradise

Sea Rim is one of those parks in the middle of nowhere. The drive to it took you past huge oil refineries all along the waterway. Just across the water is Louisiana. Since you cannot get to the park from the other direction (west) the drive seemed all that longer on the way back. While at the park, we did get in a few shorter walks. They have a 3/4 mile boardwalk where we saw many birds but no gators. Portions of the beach in the park are open to vehicle traffic. We just had to take the Jeep out on the beach. Once we got to the one sign though, Chris suggested we turn around even though I could see other vehicles 1/2 mile further down the beach.

Patterns in the Sand

We Won't Tease Them, If They Don't Eat Us!

Boardwalk at State Park

Birds Feeding Along the Beach

No We Didn't!

There are some interesting structures along the route. Some appeared to be oil well platforms being constructed on shore. Other huge crane like things were at one businesses adjacent to a Sabine Pass Battleground Site. It wasn't clear if it was used to make other things or was the "thing" being made?

Cattle Along the Way

Oil Platforms

What the Heck Is It?

Tanker Passes by Park

On our last full day in the area, we loaded the bikes and drove to Pleasure Island to do an 11 mile bike ride. We parked at Riverfront Park and headed north to South Levee Road. The road along the levee was in good shape, but the trash all along it was quite excessive. There were dozens of vehicles parked all along the levee with many people fishing. I suspect this is a popular spot to not only fish but drink and party - thus all the trash. At the southern end of the levee, we headed back up Route 82. There isn't a shoulder and there was a lot of traffic. So the ride wasn't the best idea. Probably should have just backtracked when we got to the end of the levee.

Looking Back Towards Port Arthur

Ship Heading Towards Gulf of Mexico

Shore Birds with Refineries in Background

We had our first unwelcome visitor to the motor home while here in Beaumont. At about 3 AM one morning, while I was sound asleep in the middle of a dream, Chris screams at the top of her lungs. Good thing the windows were closed or our neighbors would have heard her as well. She swears she heard a mouse scamper by the bed. Since we were now both awake, I searched for signs of the critter and wasn't convinced. The next morning, at a more reasonable time, I did a little more searching and came to the conclusion Chris may have been right. While she was out running other errands, I had her pick up a couple traps and baited them with peanut butter. One went in the lower bay where I saw some indication of a mouse and the other up in the living space with us. 

Years ago in our first house, we had discovered during kitchen remodeling, that we had a mouse in the house. I had set the trap and just after we crawled in bed one evening, we heard the trap snap shut. As I started to get out of bed to deal with it and reset the trap, I heard the trap moving quickly across the kitchen tile! It took me some cautious searching to find that one. So with that memory firmly in my mind, I was expecting a repeat performance. Alas, we have yet to catch anything in the trap in the living space, but did catch one a day later in the storage bay. Hopefully that was it, but I know better so I suspect the traps will be set for some time to come.